After being requisitioned during the Second World War and having attracted huge death duties, the 7th Earl Lonsdale sold every fixture and fitting of Lowther Castle and it became an empty shell. However, it has been restored and is now a popular tourist attraction.
“It has been said that Lord Lonsdale can never forget the happy years he and his wife spent in Lowther Castle, the ancestral home in Westmoreland which now stands deserted. Although he now has to live at Stud House, Oakham, with typical Lonsdale spirit he has thought of an original way to be reminded daily of the castle. He has a flower sent for his buttonhole from the Castle gardens every day. Even when he went to Paris recently during the Royal visit he had his flower sent to him daily by aeroplane.”
The Stamford Mercury, 30th September, 1938.